'Pretty Little Liars': 'A' Pushes a Family to the Edge

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In the third episode of season four, "A" targets another parent, two residents return to town and a family is in danger.

[Warning: Major spoilers from Tuesday's episode.]

With the investigation into Detective Wilden's death in full force, Pretty Little Liars continued to move a few steps forward in the season's mystery.

Several questions that were raised in the second episode continued to be bandied about in Tuesday's "Cat's Cradle," with "A" beginning to target the Liars' parents. First, it was Hanna's mother, Ashley, and now, Emily's mom, Pam. With different parties desperate to find answers to some of the season's biggest questions, how close will Rosewood get to accomplishing their goals?

Aria's mother heads overseas: It's never a great sign when you're jealous of your mother's love life, but that's exactly what happens with Aria (Lucy Hale). After a lot of hemming and hawing (plus a push from Aria), Ella (Holly Marie Combs) finally agrees to go to Vienna with Zack, who will be out of Rosewood for "less than a year." (They really pushed that timeframe hard.)

Melissa returns to town: Spencer's older sister Melissa (Torrey DeVitto) is back in the fold, and everyone's on high alert. Melissa hints to Spencer (Troian Bellisario) that it might be best for the two of them to leave town. "If we knew what's good for us," Melissa says to her sis. Something tells me it isn't that simple.

Caleb tries to mend Hanna's family: After learning that his relationship with his birth father is OK, Caleb (Tyler Blackburn) attempts to reassure Hanna that her mom Ashley (Laura Leighton), who's been feeling the heat, isn't guilty of Det. Wilden's murder. Things aren't looking very good for the Marin family, so Caleb brings up Hanna's attorney father Tom (Roark Critchlow), who could potentially help out should things get sticky. Hanna ends up at the Rosewood Police Department, stumbling across an elaborate board with Wilden's photo right at the center of it, with his acquaintances all around. That solidifies how serious the investigation has gotten. Meanwhile, Caleb takes matter into his own hands, warning Tom about Wilden. But, here's a shocker: He and Ashley did meet that evening, and the gun he keeps is now missing. Uh oh!

Aria's romance moves forward: Aria and Jake (Ryan Guzman) have a movie date, and she isn't liking that he doesn't see things like she does. Unlike her, he's not so into film noir and black-and-white movies. He argues that if their interests lined up too much, life would be incredibly dull. "I don't think you like dull," he says.

Toby visits the scene of his mom's "suicide": Toby's (Keegan Allen) investigation into his mother's supposed suicide continues on. With Toby desperate to find out the truth, Spencer warns him that he needs to come clean about moving the RV housing the "A's" lair. But Toby brings up a good point: "She always knows when you're at your weakest." "She?" Spencer probes. "It's always felt like a she, hasn't it?" Is that a firm "A" clue?

"A" targets Emily's mother: Instead of "A" targeting the girls exclusively (and those close to them), s/he is continuing to attack the girls' mothers. First Ashley, and now Emily's mother Pam (Nia Peeples). It gets so serious that by the end of the episode, family services is being called in to mediate a supposedly hostile situation in the Fields household.

The mystery of the Alison masks: The Liars discover a mask that was seen on the Halloween train and possibly at the lodge, but when they peel off layers, they realize that it's a mask molded in Alison's (Sasha Pieterse) facial structure. When they visit the mask maker responsible for creating them, he reveals that she wanted to make masks for her friends so they could look like her and the mold was broken because Alison told him to do it. (Meanwhile, Emily experiences what it must've been like for Alison to be buried alive, with the mask maker putting mold all over her face.) Later, Hanna (Ashley Benson) discovers another mask at the mask maker's place, one that looks exactly like the mask Melissa wore. Did Melissa follow Alison or did Alison follow Melissa, or did they both go to the mask maker together?